I grew up in a “political” family. (My father was a lawyer, judge, and member of our state legislator at various times during his life.) Over the years, I overheard talk of various nefarious things that one party or the other may (or may not) have done. Later in my life we were friends with a lady who was a volunteer at a polling place for several precincts in our area. She was a very social person and knew many of our neighbors (and voters). She described “van loads” arriving at the polling place of voters who she neither recognized nor were of the appearance of the typically middle, upper-middle class voters in our area. They would give names (no ID required!) and receive ballots. They were accompanied by a “minder” who did not vote. Several of these vans would visit the polling place each election. It is unknown if the vans visited multiple polling placed during the day. Frankly, this was highly suspicious, but the rules (in California) allowed no questions about this activity.

Over the years, I have voted in every election that I was qualified to vote in. I would like to think that my vote counted and that fraud, if any, was only a minor factor in any election. Unfortunately, I have very low confidence of that being true. While the WA system with mail in/drop box can be both efficient and secure, it requires effort and costs to ensure. While I am for financial efficiency in government (at all levels), frankly, there are some things that must be covered to ensure that our elections are fair and accurate.